Feeding your puppy or dog: a complete guide

Feeding your dog well is one of the biggest things you can do for their health, but it isn't complicated once you know the basics. What matters most is matching the diet, the portion size and the number of meals to your dog's age, size and activity level, and then checking regularly that it's actually working by feeling your dog's body condition rather than just trusting a number on the bag.

This guide walks through feeding from early puppyhood through adulthood and into the senior years, including how often to feed, how to switch foods safely, and the mistakes that quietly lead to a lot of overweight dogs. None of this replaces a conversation with your vet about your individual dog, but it will give you a solid, evidence-based starting point.

If you're not sure how many calories your particular dog needs, our Pet Calorie Calculator is a good place to sanity-check the numbers on the packet against your dog's weight and activity level.

How much should you feed a puppy?

There's no single figure that works for every puppy, because it depends on the food's calorie density, your puppy's current weight, and their expected adult size. The most reliable method is to weigh your puppy, then use the feeding chart on the food packaging (or the manufacturer's website) for that specific product, since feeding guides vary considerably between brands.

As a general starting point, many vets suggest feeding a growing puppy around 5–6% of their estimated adult body weight per day in total, reducing gradually to around 2–3% once they reach adulthood, though this should always be adjusted against how your puppy actually looks and feels rather than followed rigidly. PDSA's advice is to weigh out portions rather than guess, and to reassess as your puppy grows since their requirements change fast in the first year.

It's worth resisting the urge to overfeed a fast-growing puppy, particularly with large and giant breeds. The Royal Veterinary hospital network VCA points out that puppies should be aimed at an "optimal" growth rate rather than a "maximal" one — overfeeding a large-breed puppy, or giving unnecessary calcium supplements, raises the risk of skeletal problems such as hip dysplasia, alongside a higher lifetime risk of obesity. Stick to a food specifically formulated for growth and, if you have a large-breed puppy, ideally one formulated for large breeds, and don't add extra vitamin or mineral supplements without checking with your vet first.

How often to feed a puppy: a feeding schedule by age

Puppies have small stomachs and high energy needs relative to their size, so they need more frequent, smaller meals than adult dogs. Dogs Trust sets out a straightforward schedule:

• Under 12 weeks old: four meals a day
• 12 weeks to 6 months old: three meals a day
• From 6 months old: two meals a day

This roughly matches PDSA's guidance that puppies aged four to twelve weeks need three to four meals a day, dropping as their resting energy requirement falls with age. Keep meals evenly spaced through the day where you can, and try to feed at consistent times — it helps with house-training as well as digestion. PDSA also suggests giving your puppy around 20 minutes to eat a meal, then picking up whatever is left rather than leaving food down all day, which makes it much easier to spot if appetite changes.

Avoid vigorous play or exercise straight after a meal. This is sound advice for any dog, but matters most for deep-chested breeds prone to bloat (gastric dilatation-volvulus), a genuine emergency. If you have a breed at higher risk, a slow-feeder bowl can help stop them wolfing food down too fast.

Choosing the right food

Puppies need a food specifically formulated for growth — adult dog food doesn't contain the right balance of protein, fat, calcium and other nutrients to support healthy development, and homemade or human food essentially never does either. PDSA recommends choosing a food from a manufacturer that belongs to the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association (PFMA), as members commit to nutritional and labelling standards above the legal minimum.

Both wet and dry complete foods are fine, and many owners feed a mix of the two. What matters is that the food is labelled "complete" (not "complementary", which isn't nutritionally balanced on its own) and appropriate for your dog's current life stage. Dogs Trust also notes that dry food can have some dental benefits through the mechanical action of chewing, though it isn't a substitute for proper dental care.

Small and toy breeds usually need a smaller kibble size and reach adulthood faster than giant breeds, which can still be growing at 18–24 months. If you're ever unsure what stage your dog is at relative to a human age, our Dog Age Calculator can help put it in context, though breed size is the bigger factor for nutrition than age alone.

Switching from puppy to adult food

Dogs Trust advises moving to adult food once your dog has stopped growing, though exactly when that happens depends heavily on breed and size — a small breed may be there by 9–12 months, while a giant breed may not finish growing until nearer two years old. Your vet or breeder can help judge the right point for your particular dog.

However you make the switch — puppy to adult, or between any two foods — do it gradually. A commonly recommended approach is to mix a small proportion of the new food in with the old for the first couple of days, then increase the ratio roughly every day or two, so the new food makes up around half the bowl by day four and all of it by day seven or eight. Sudden changes can upset a dog's gut bacteria and lead to loose stools, vomiting or a reduced appetite, even when the new food is a perfectly good one. If your dog seems unsettled partway through a switch, slow the transition down rather than pushing on.

Feeding an adult dog

Most adult dogs do well on two meals a day, spaced through the day rather than fed all at once. RSPCA guidance is to feed at least once a day unless your vet advises otherwise, though twice-daily feeding is more common practice and can help reduce the risk of bloat in susceptible breeds compared with one large meal.

Portion size again comes back to the feeding guide for your specific food, cross-checked against your dog's actual body condition rather than followed blindly — two dogs of the same breed and weight can have very different energy needs depending on how active they are, whether they're neutered, and their individual metabolism. Re-weigh your dog periodically and adjust the daily amount up or down in small increments if their weight is drifting.

Feeding a senior dog

As dogs age their energy needs typically fall — VCA notes that senior dogs' daily energy requirements can drop by around 12–13%, and that maintaining a leaner body condition through adulthood has been linked to a longer lifespan in research on ageing dogs. At the same time, older dogs often need good-quality protein to help preserve muscle mass, so "feed less of everything" isn't quite the right approach; a food specifically formulated for seniors, with adjusted calories, protein and phosphorus levels, is usually a better fit than simply shrinking portions of an adult food.

When dogs become "senior" varies a lot by size: VCA gives roughly 5–8 years old for large and giant breeds, and 10–11 years for small breeds, reflecting the shorter lifespans of bigger dogs. Before changing a senior dog's diet it's worth asking your vet for a check-up, since weight loss, reduced appetite or increased thirst in an older dog can be a sign of an underlying condition such as kidney disease rather than just "getting old", and the right diet can differ depending on what's found.

Older dogs can also become less inclined to get up and drink, so make sure water is always easily accessible, and consider adding wet food or using a pet water fountain if you're concerned about hydration.

Body condition: how to tell if you're feeding the right amount

Packaging guides are a starting point, not gospel — the only real way to know if you're feeding the right amount is to regularly check your dog's body condition by hand, not just by eye (thick or dark coats can hide a lot). PDSA's method is simple and takes a minute:

• Ribs: run your hands along your dog's sides — you should feel the ribs easily with light pressure, but they shouldn't be sharp or visible.
• Spine and hips: you should be able to feel these under the skin without them protruding.
• Tail base: there shouldn't be a noticeable pad of fat here.
• Waist: looking from above and from the side, your dog should have a visible waist behind the ribs, and their tummy should tuck up rather than bulge.

If you can't feel your dog's ribs at all, or their waist has disappeared, it's a stronger signal than the number on the scales — talk to your vet or practice nurse about a weight check.

Many vet practices run free weight clinics, and catching a slow weight gain early is far easier to correct than reversing years of steady overfeeding.

Treats and extras

Treats are a normal part of training and bonding, but they add up faster than most owners expect. Both Dogs Trust and PDSA recommend keeping treats to no more than around 10% of a dog's total daily calorie intake, with the main meal reduced slightly on days when you're using a lot of training treats. Using a portion of your dog's normal daily kibble allowance as training rewards is a simple way to manage this without cutting into their treat budget at all.

If you like to share the odd bit of human food, small amounts of plain cooked chicken, carrot or pumpkin are generally fine, but a number of everyday foods are toxic to dogs, including chocolate, grapes and raisins, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts, alcohol and anything containing the sweetener xylitol. If you're ever unsure whether something is safe, our Can My Pet Eat This? tool is a quick way to check before you hand it over.

Common feeding mistakes

A handful of habits cause most of the feeding problems vets see day to day:

• Free-feeding (leaving food down all day): makes it hard to spot appetite changes and encourages grazing and weight gain.
• Guessing portions by eye: always weigh food out, at least until you're confident the amount is right for your dog's condition.
• Not adjusting for treats: extra calories from treats, chews and "just a bit" of dinner scraps are easy to forget about but add up quickly.
• Switching foods too fast: even a genuinely better food can cause digestive upset if it's introduced overnight instead of over 7–10 days.
• Increasing food in cold weather "just in case": PDSA notes this isn't usually necessary if your dog has adequate shelter and normal activity levels.
• Overfeeding a large-breed puppy to "help them grow": faster growth isn't healthier growth, and can increase the risk of joint problems later in life.

When to see your vet

Get in touch with your vet if your dog's appetite changes suddenly (eating a lot more or a lot less than usual), if they're losing or gaining weight without a deliberate diet change, if they're drinking noticeably more water, or if you're struggling to get their body condition into a healthy range despite following feeding guidelines. These can all be early signs of conditions that are much easier to manage when caught early, and your vet can also advise on a suitable weight-management or prescription diet if one is needed.

*This is general guidance, not a substitute for advice from your vet, who can assess your individual pet.*

Sources

• PDSA — vet Q&A on how much to feed your dog or cat (pdsa.org.uk).
• PDSA — puppy diet and behaviour advice (pdsa.org.uk).
• PDSA — your dog's body condition score (pdsa.org.uk).
• Dogs Trust — dog diet and nutrition advice (dogstrust.org.uk).
• VCA Animal Hospitals — feeding growing puppies (vcahospitals.com).
• VCA Animal Hospitals — feeding mature and senior dogs (vcahospitals.com).
• RSPCA — how to feed your dog a healthy diet (rspca.org.uk).